Re: OT: Big Tupperware Sale (Modular Mates)

"lucretia borgia" wrote >>>>

Green or yellow beans work very nicely, peas so, cauliflower as well (and you can grate a bit of chees over them, nuke them a few second more, and skip making cheese sauce). I find carrots a bit trickier to get just the right crispness, but I think how you cut them has considerable to do with it. Not-quite-ex-DH eats no veggies whatever, so when he lived at home, the microwave allowed me to quickly cook small quantities of either fresh or frozen vegetables for myself with each meal.

Dawne

I'll take carrots, asparagus - what ever looked good, and spray them with olive oil and cook it along with the chicken breasts. Nice rich flavor with out the grill or heavy seasonings.

C

I shall try that, I like them oven roasted (favourite way) so similar in easy time would be nice.

I love green beans that way. Actually, I can buy fresh green beans already cleaned and trimmed in a microwave safe bag. All I have to do is toss them in the microwave and go, and they come out nice and hot and crunchy and delicious. Even the kids like them. Couldn't get any easier, healthier, or tastier.

Best wishes, Ericka

When you microwave any food it continues to "cook" for several minutes after the microwave has switched off. Maureen puts her raw roast potato in the microwave with a bit of water and zaps them on warp factor 9 for a minute or so then lets them "stand" for ten minutes before putting them in the roasting pan with the beef (all times very approximate!)

Other than occsionally oven-roasting (or baking), I don't cook them any other way. Not only is it faster, it retains many more of the nutrients, as there is no water for them to leach out into.

You might like to hit your local public library and read up on the subject. I say this because, when I bought my first one (after vowing never to do so, I was not about to spend $500 on an appliance to be used for reheating 50c worth of leftovers) after my first long, hot Florida summer, that is what I did.

I hit the local library, and found a book which looked interesting. After I had started reading, it didn't seem to have many recipes, but I labored on and very soon realised that it was actually a treatise on the theory and practice of microwave cooking.

It changed my life. Veggies and fruits - microwave most of the time. Cakes and cookies - never. Fire up the stove. OTOH, steamed puddings take 3 to 4 minutes, rather than 3 hours. Miraculous. Meat - iffy. Chicken - yes, if you need poached chicken for a recipe,it does a marvellous job. By itself, rather tasteless Defrosting the chicken pieces before cooking them? - yes, certainly. Defrosting bread - yes. I make my own whole-wheat bread, six loaves at a time and freeze five of them. One minute in the microwave defrosts them and we always have "fresh from the oven" bread. Defrosting rolls - yes, but do them one at a time, ten seconds each, or they turn tough. Pizza? Defrost in the microwave, but if you don't have a special pizza stone for the micro, reheat it in a dry frying pan, otherwise the crust is very soggy.

Boiling milk - certainly, provided you have a clear vessel at least four times the capacity of the milk you are doing.

Melting butter or chocolate - definitely.

While you are looking at other books in the library, do check Barbara Kafka's "Microwave Gourmet". Most of her recipes are far too rich for evryday use, but the second half of the book is a "microwave dictionary" in which she gives times and methods. Her meat times are not reliable, she must have access to much tenderer raw meat than I do, but she is fairly good on fruits and veggies. A good starting point, anyway.

Sorry. TMI.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Now that is GREAT to know. I like to par boil the spuds before roasting, they taste far superior, but it's a bore. Never thought of nuking them. See what great things one can learn here ?

OK, I frequently buy those so will try. I have seen those bags but they are not designed for one person consumption, for me it is more practical to buy loose.

I have nuked potatoes for roasting that way and it works very well. What I don't much love is nuking potatoes for plain baked and I generally start them in the microwave and then put them into the toaster oven to bake and crisp the skin.

Cauliflower definitely, green beans and peas I don't like so I don't know. Carrots will do well if they're cut in coins. I've done brussel sprouts (although now I like the frozen ones in the steamer bag even better) and I've done cabbage. I know squash works out well, but I don't eat it at all unless it's butternut dripping in butter and brown sugar with maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon.

My friends do most of their veggies in the oven but I don't like the taste of the oil you need to use.

You might want to try to veggies in the new steamer bags. They really are very good and so much easier then trying to get good quality fresh.

Lucille

I have done that on occasion, particularly when I have other stuff in the oven that is not going to take long enough to bake spuds from scratch.

OK. I nuked some turnip earlier on, cut a medium sized one into even pieces and did three minute increments, 12 minutes gave me mashable turnip, so that was less trouble. Then for supper I nuked some sugar snap peas, two minutes, excellent, just right.

Our veggies here are very expensive in winter and the steamer bag things are way too much for me quantity wise and more than expensive because they have put them in the bags.

I don't like nuking stuff in plastic, I have bought cheapo Fire King pots with lids and use them.

I do veggies a lot in the micro. I thought Gillian was saying mainly this isn't "cooking" as in the art of cooking, -y'know - chopping, prepping, etc. Personally, I just watch that the veggies aren't overdone - yuck. But, it works for us. IIRC there was some rumor a couple of years back the nuking the veggies wasn't so healthy, but then this year I read a couple of reports that it actually is, so I feel validated. Plus, I can cook in the serving dish - woo hoo. I'm one of those people that won't put pots from the stove on the table - so veggies in some corning, or stoneware, can get cooked, then go to the table for serving.

It's certainly conveient for quickly sort of poaching or steaming fish. I also used to have a great recipe for doing white clam sauce (yes, not with fresh clams, I know) in the nuker. The sauce would be all made - then you put the cooked pasta into the dish, mix it all up, and yum. I think I got it from some packed away cookbook for using the microwave - from many years ago.

Ellice

[veggies]

Too much work for just one person.

Does for me! Beans, broccoli, carrots, peas, potatoes. Haven't tried any kind of fresh squash.

Elizabeth

I regularly do salmon fillets in the micro. Highliner has a 1 lb package with 4-5 nice sized pieces of salmon. I put them still frozen into a shallow microwaveable dish, pour a little soy or Ponzu (citrus flavoured soy)over, some grated fresh ginger, and black sesame seeds. Cover with plastic wrap. Nuke for 3 minutes on high, rearrange pieces, nuke for another 3 minutes, flip over and rearrange so the outside pieces are inside. Nuke another 2 minutes. Let rest for a minute or two. Serve with rice.

As an alternative, use one of the sesame/orange/ginger salad dressings over the fish. I usually serve 2 pieces to the DH, and one to myself, and chill the extra piece(s) to use in a tossed salad the next night.

Another great item in the microwave are mini 'souffle'/omlettes' This came out of a Richard Deacon microwave cookbook. Melt a bit of butter in a individual ramekin. Beat an egg, season to taste. Put an ounce of cream cheese and a bit of smoked salmon into the ramekin and pour the egg over top. Nuke on high about 1-2 minutes. The egg will puff up like a souffle and the cheese will melt. If still runny, put back for another

10-30 seconds. Serve with toast. I do these for myself when I want a quick meal, and don't want to go to all the bother of making a major production. If I'm really hungry, I'll use a larger microwaveable bowl and two eggs. You can vary the cheese and replace the salmon with ham, cooked bacon or whatever you have.

MargW

I don't know that I didn't say it wasn't cooking as an art, but my preference is to use the stovetop. I think it tastes better, but remember I am an old hag, and there weren't microwaves in my mother's time.

sSriously, I think the adjustment of water temperatures using stove top must make a difference because I taste it.

Tonight was a "box" dinner. 15 small plastic containers from the last five days, warmed and served. It was a lot of fun...and certainly made for a variety. Some leftovers were "tweaked" otherwise they were straight from the box.

Gillian

I find that scrambled eggs are best done in the microwave, and the dish needs less work to clean it afterwards

Not really - turn on oven to 450F, put veggies on pan and spray with olive oil and shove in oven. 10 minutes max for anything like broccoli or cauliflower. Carrots sliced thin about the same.

Cheryl